ATMIA CEO Argues Cash Here to Stay

BROOKINGS, S.D. -- Mike Lee, CEO of the ATM Industry Association, has argued in a lengthy opinion piece that cash is likely to remain the dominant payment method for at least the next 25 years and maybe the next century.

While he acknowledged that he has a vested interest in the question as the CEO of an ATM trade group, Lee argued in a piece appearing on the ATM Marketplace.com Web site that authorities thar have predicted the demise of cash for some time have consistently overstated their case.

"It's the simplicity of cash that has resulted in its longevity. Cash produces instant results virtually anywhere on earth. That is an immense strength," Lee wrote. "Cash is not a technology that easily reaches exhaustion because of resource depletion. And cash has a strong resistance to substitution," he added.

Cash is valuable, fee-free for consumers, tangible, carries certainty of acceptance as legal tender provides immediate, is free of credit risk and is a publicly traded assets regulated by a central bank. It is also functionally anonymous and cannot be tracked, easy to access to use, universal, interchangeable with other cash and fast, he argued.